Follow the Grins
by Lazy Watermellon
Summary: She gripped her tattered aqua blue hoodie, her scared coffee colored eyes looking at the grinning boy in the tree. "Who are you?" He giggled, petting his orange tail. "I could ask myself the same question..." Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto or the song. (Suggested song link in my profile description.)


Anko was scared. Ever since she followed her corrupted sensei out of sick puppy love, only to run back home from learning his sick and twisted ways, she learned things had never been the same. The once nice smiles that were as warm and tender as freshly baked pie had now turned rotten and vile. The light that glowed in the people's eyes had burned out once the news spread like the plague, and the once shine to the sky had looked no different than ash.

Little Anko of confusion walked down the streets of hushed and whispers, the noises like echo's. Every corner she crept, every direction her little toes turned was far worse than the last. Boysenberry hair held back frightened caramel eyes of innocence, so round and wondering, nowhere to run, nowhere to hide as she ran from the insults, there tone harsh and unwelcoming, leaving bruises in her mind.

Wrong? Terrible? Bad? Were these choices the one she made? She did not know what she had done to deserve such cutting glares, the way they spat at her tattoo that leached on her neck, like it was mocking them.

Her mind was bending, no more was she walking amongst people, her imagination morphing them into the actions they bestowed upon the girl, twisted and demented beings. Their voices two faced and sight the sight of their disfigured bodies unbearable, there limbs stretching out of whack, arms to long, eyes to big, little Anko needed to run. She was strong but her mind was falling too fast to understand the rights and wrongs, tell the demons from the civilians.

Before her mind could understand, she was running fast, her frail shoeless feet dashing to nowhere. Her ripped up and dirty aqua blue hoodie fluttering at the speed.

Her breath was hard and her cheeks flushed, the silent whispers all but a memory but not forgotten. She looked up, a colossus gate in her way, the aged sighs warning all to stay out, and never proceed, but to her, it was welcoming. The thick forest of damp and enigma all more reason to fall into and hide from the false smiles, the ones that lied to her in her dreams.

She struggled, climbing over the fence but soon made it, her feet slamming against the dirt. Looking in back she was shocked to see no one not a single soul, sure she ran fast but the streets were empty and the lively village void of life, but she trended on, she couldn't or wouldn't call it a sanctuary, but it would have to do.

Instantly she was lost, already the trees looked nothing like the other, and no pattern seemed to come up, every inch holding its own originality. The moldy trees grew like castles, blocking the skies with its bragging branches, each tree competing to soak up the suns happy rays like a parasite. Coffee eyes looked around, noises of all kinds danced in her ears, and hidden eyes gazing upon the small child.

Odd though, she found these eyes less dangerous than the ones who wouldn't harm her. The grass was high, tickling her black shorts covered legs.

Little Anko of wonder gazed all around, her orbs at awe at the chaotic design that was this forest, it was like you shrank. Everything was big, and everything that was big, was small. There were no roads, no paths or pavements, this place truly was not one to take a stroll in, little have went in, and even fewer made it out from insanity, loss of way, or by being ones dine and dash.

Anko wouldn't lie to herself, besides; she was her only friend in this big world. She was scared, frightened at best in this misshaped world, but she was lost. It's not like she minded, not having anywhere to go, but never did she see the same thing twice, even from the same species. But as she walked deeper into the heart of the forest, the more things started to…get weirder.

The moldy and decaying trees took a faithful repulsing pink, and everything seemed to get more unreal, less logical, she even started to hear singing from all angles. It was calm and lazy, natural at best, like a lullaby. The shunned snake princess was in an opening for the first time, let alone probably the only in the labyrinth of death, but how she found it was beyond her understanding, and why did she feel so, safe.

It wasn't a big opening, minimized at best, but for a small girl it would be enough. She whipped her head around, her messy purple locks swaying around, but looked at the low branch from the tree, two eyes staring at thee. The eyes were electric blue, brightly shining through the dark, but she gasp as it made form on the decaying bark.

Golden fur like locks soon faded into existence along with a slender face, it was mature, but the whiskers brought home a little childish. Its long and lean body unraveled too as it was ragged in an overly neon orange and blue jumpsuit, its white collar fuzzy and comforting. She was quick to notice its overly large ears and the fuzzy orange tail swaying without a care in the world.

Little Anko didn't trust its wide, inhuman grin, but she stepped forth, confronting this odd creature.

"Excuse me mister, but who are you?" But she huffed when all he did was giggle, his lazy eyes locking onto hers. "I could ask myself the same question, but I think the more important question at hand is WHAT, are YOU doing here?" She watched him roll over, but instead of falling, he floated around her, watching, waiting. "I didn't like the memories I was given…or the sights so I came here." "I'm appalled you find this…place, arousing in the least, but everyone to their own fancy, now tell me child, why so little."

"I'm NOT little." She huffed once more, and pushed the tail out of her face when he glided by, the fur tickling her nose. He was now upside down, his grin going far higher than his eyes, his sharp teeth unwelcoming. "people always run and fear me, but those who tend to stay hurt me cause of what I have not done, and what I don't look like." She frowned. "Must be hard, huh?" Anko thought back, trying to piece together the wrong she made, but like a stolen piece to the puzzle, she couldn't fill in the gap.

"Yes…but in the end I simply grin and bear it." She blushed when he was in her face, his comforting but wicked smile greeting her. "But don't you get mad!" "Impossible, how does one become when one already IS!" His head fell off and dropping in her palms, Anko flipped when his lazy face spoke.

"Let me once more ask the question. Why, are you here, you HAVE to be here if you're here for something you lost? No one can come in here for a good time, and when they do, they may never come out. And sometimes, they don't WANT to come out." Anko held the head close, her chin nesting in the fur locks. "Why am I here, do you know?" The body sat on her head, but it was weightless, its form going into a thinking one.

"Don't insult me with questions you already know, now remember the forgotten." "Well…I want to know why the people hate me…I know I'm guilty of something but punishment shouldn't come to a victim!" he purred, his voice soothing through the damp forest. "You merely boiled the water now we must add the tea." "And…what choice did I make to be hated so badly?" "Very goooood, but will satisfactory come in knowing the unspoken, or have you already lost what you have already gained?"

The petite girl sat in the opening, her head full of wonder, look for the why, or look for the what. But how could she find, let alone know something that isn't real yet?

The foxy boy plopped his head back on, twisting it to fasten it on. Anko felt uneasy when it went to lie so casually in air. "You hold the right doors but have one key, let's discuss a different angle. How do you like your mind, if you're here you must not know it very well." She thought of all the monsters in the alleys, all the tongues that spoke like sandpaper between two rocks. "I guess, I don't know my own mind all too well, is it bad?" "Bad, good, it's all in one's mind of opinion, though ids keep my eyes open and mouth shut for your tongue may get your head cut off!"

Oh dear…

She hummed when the being sat behind her, holding her in a hug as he rested his chin on her messy locks, his voice jazzy and vibrating. "So little one so small and wondering, time is ticking, the longer you stay here, insanity will sniff, and gone will you fall deeper and deeper into the plague that is why. Haste makes waste, but if I was alone in the dark, ids run to the conclusion. Why are you here, you have something that already holds you dear, that has pulled you out of insanity and into sanity, but the other will answer ALL you ever needed to know, but one cannot live with the other, chose. Remembering the remembered is all it takes."

Little Anko's coffee eyes closed, her mind hazing away from his speech, its tone mesmerizing her thoughts, but she needed to choose, and fast, the why, or the what, which to leave behind.

Learn all she needs to know, or move on and take what's already given at the price of locked memories.

She squinted, looking deep in her mind.

Memories hazy but there.

Voices so close.

'I'll always be here for you…Anko-Chan!'

His voice was like a match in a dark room full of broken furniture, her cheeks warmed as she remembered the honey sweet tone, it was caring and childish. The more her mind was uploading the tender moments of this familiar stranger, the more she felt comfortable, safe even in the putrid forest that surrounded her.

"Myyyy, if that grin goes any wider even I may blush, it seems you know which door to unlock, I am no more needed in this frizzled land." He drifted away but was held back, the little snake princess gripping his sleeve tight. "WAIT…it was you all along…but…what…where will you be going, what if I come back here again!?"

"Silly girl, you dilly dallied your way to me, you see, but I'll be here when your lost, now go, before your monsters eat you." She leaned in, kissing his palm before fading into sparkles, the faded boy smirking when he saw the pale man before him. "You snooze, you lose." But his tone was threatening, sick and twisted, seducingly sly. "Silly little pest, she WILL come for me once more, and you WILL be doomed."

He giggled, floating around the pale serpent like man. "Not doomed, no. Forgotten, maybe…I could never be destroyed no matter how deep she goes into this place, I'll just be there to pick her up, now if you excuse me, my eyes need resting."

The man scoffed at seeing the pest fly away, he knew he could never harm nor touch the blasted light in the dark. Ever since that, THING got here it have brightened things in here, and it continued to grow, it made him sick. But he would wait, but hopefully not to long for his apprentice to scamper back into oblivion. "I WILL find a way to kill you…"

The echoes of the boy's voice drifted his way. "Fat chance ya pedophile."

Oh he would STRANGLE it if he could!

Coffee eyes fluttered open when the naked woman felt soft kisses go up her spine, a small smile blooming on her face, and giggled when he nibbled her ears, his hot voice whispering sweet nothing her way. "Good morning, Anko-Chan." She hummed, loving the feel of his warmth. "A good morning indeed..." Leaning in she smiled into the kiss, loving her Plushy-Kun.

It was a beautiful morning indeed


End file.
